Epilogue.

Nine Months Later.

Sitting in her father's home office, Hermione settled herself behind his desk to look through the papers he'd wanted her to see. The papers were all about new legislation that he was planning on pushing through at the Ministry. It would be the first major changes to the wizarding world since the battle of Hogsmeade nine months ago, and Voldemort wanted Hermione's opinions on whether or not he was pushing too hard, too fast, or whether he was taking things too slowly.

Following the battle of Hogsmeade the wizarding world had all but ground to a halt as they'd waited with baited breath to see what would happen next. With both Harry and Dumbledore dead there was no-one to really lead the resistance and it was very simple for Voldemort to take over the Ministry. Now every single high ranking official at the Ministry, including the Minister himself, was a Death Eater or someone who supported the dark's causes. Although the Ministry wasn't the only places changes had been made. Severus had been given the job as headmaster at Hogwarts, and a large portion of the staff had been replaced.

Even with the changes of power, Voldemort hadn't yet introduced any major new laws. He'd set out his plans weeks after taking charge, and surprisingly the majority of the population were content to wait and see what happened. More than half of the population even expressed their approval when Voldemort announced that the main thing he wanted to do was separate the wizarding world from the muggle world. He was adamant that the muggles had too much knowledge of the magical world and he was determined to cut down the connection between the two worlds. Of course his plans would affect muggleborns more than anyone else, but Voldemort was adamant that if a muggleborn entered the wizarding world and wished to stay a part of it, they would have to be prepared to cut off their old life as a muggle. In his option you could either be magical or a muggle, he didn't want people flitting between the two worlds and endangering the entire population.

Not that everything had been peaceful as the dark took control of the Ministry. There were those who still tried to fight, and even now there were still pockets of resistance that needed dealing with. However, the big rebellion had come a little over a month after the battle of Hogsmeade, led by Sirius Black.

As Hermione had predicted, Sirius was reckless in his attempts to stop Voldemort and rather than regrouping what was left of the Order and coming up with a solid plan to defeat the dark, he launched a foolish attack on the Ministry. Together with a small band of supporters he stormed the Ministry while Voldemort was present discussing the new regime with the press. Sadly for Sirius, Voldemort wasn't a fool and there were more than enough Death Eaters around to subdue the protesters and throw them into holding cells down in the Department of Mysteries.

Sirius was one of those thrown into a cell, but when one of her father's men went to lay formal charges against him, he was discovered dead in his cell. Officially, the Ministry announced that Sirius had killed himself, unable to face spending the rest of his life in Azkaban. However, Hermione knew that her father had gotten to him and eliminated the threat he posed.

With Sirius out of the way, the Weasleys were the next in line to take over the fight against Voldemort, however they were a shadow of the family they once were and only Charlie still posed any sort of threat these days. Following their no-show at the battle in Hogsmeade, Fred, George and Ginny had continued to distance themselves from their family. Hermione suspected that they didn't like that her father had taken control, but the actions of the Order, and in particularly certain parts of their family, had lessened their desire to fight the dark forces and for the moment they seemed content to just get on with their lives. Percy, as expected, put himself before his family and he publically announced his support of the new regime at the Ministry and seemed perfectly content working alongside his new boss, who was a Death Eater.

Arthur was also no longer a threat as he was a broken man following the final battle. It turned out, Molly had suffered a fractured skull when Draco had thrown her into the wall and she'd been in a coma for nearly two months following the battle before passing away without ever regaining consciousness. Between losing Molly and Ron, and not knowing what had happened to Bill, Arthur retreated into himself and no-one outside the family had seen him for months now. He was a hermit, never leaving the family home, and any fight he may have possessed had died with his wife.

Dragging her thoughts away from events of the last few months, Hermione turned her focus back to the pages in front of her. She studied the new legislation her father wanted to pass for nearly ten minutes before she was distracted by her son giggling happily. Turning around she smiled at the sight of Scorpius sitting on the rug in front of the fire playing with her father.

At just over ten months, Scorpius was full of energy and needed watching every minute. At the moment he was going through a phase of putting anything and everything into his mouth to suck. Currently he was gnawing at a wooden building block he was supposed to be playing with. He could also crawl at a rapid speed, he used anything to pull himself to his feet and Hermione was sure he was about to take his first steps.

Hermione was also fairly sure he was on the verge of saying his first word, and she had a bet with her boyfriend as to what they would be. Draco was convinced his first words would be 'dada', and he spent hours coaching his son to say his name, while Hermione was hoping her son's first words would be 'mama', and like Draco she'd been urging him to say her name first. However, their son was stubborn and even though it seemed as though he was ready to talk, he'd kept them both in suspense for several weeks now.

"You don't look to be getting very far," Voldemort remarked, looking up and finding his daughter watching him and Scorpius.

"I've read the principal ideas, and I think they're sound," Hermione replied.

"So I'm not going too fast or too slow?" Voldemort checked. Personally he would have just liked to wipe out all muggleborns and not allow anymore into their world, but he knew that wasn't really a viable option, so he had to settle for twisting the laws to hopefully ensure less of them polluted the wizarding world.

"I think the pacing is perfect," Hermione said. "We don't want to scare people and have them rebel against us, but at the same time, we don't want to be seen to be doing nothing and alienate everyone who helped us gain the power we've now got."

"You know, you should really go and work at the Ministry," Voldemort remarked, getting to his feet and swinging Scorpius up into his arms. "I could use you in the Minister's office to ensure everything goes according to the plans."

"I'm not sure I have time," Hermione said with a slight shrug.

Technically she was in partnership with Daphne Greengrass. After Daphne had stayed with her at the end of her pregnancy, the two witches had struck up a close friendship and once the war had been won, Hermione had given Daphne the financial backing she'd needed to really set up her own jewellery business. So far the business was going great guns, with Daphne the creative genius who designed and made the jewellery and Hermione keeping the books balanced.

"Your business venture doesn't take up all of your time," Voldemort said. "You could still work with Daphne and still be in the Minister's office. Who knows when the time is right, you might even become the next Minister for Magic."

"I'll think about it," Hermione promised, smiling slightly at the thought of being Minister for Magic.

"Talk it over with Draco," Voldemort suggested. "I'm sure he'll agree you can do both jobs and still have plenty of time for this little one."

As if he knew he was being talked about, Scorpius raised his chubby hands and patted Voldemort's face. "Pa-pa."

"I don't believe it, he spoke," Hermione gasped.

"That's because he's a good boy," Voldemort chuckled, grinning at his grandson. "Aren't you Scorpius?"

"Pa-pa," Scorpius repeated, stroking Voldemort's face.

"Can you say mama?" Hermione asked her son, plucking him from her father's arms. "Mama," she repeated slowly.

"Pa-pa," Scorpius gurgled, reaching for Voldemort.

"That's my boy," Voldemort chuckled. "Just wait until Lucius hears about his. He'll be so jealous that I'm Scorpius's favourite grandfather."

"You don't know that," Hermione retorted. "It could just be because you're here."

"Or because Scorpius loves me the most," Voldemort gloated, kissing his grandson who continued to say pa-pa.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her father, and saying goodbye, she headed home to the manor with Scorpius. She found Draco in their bedroom and as he made a fuss of their son, she broke the news that not only had he missed Scorpius's first words, but neither of them had won their bet.

"Seriously?" Draco questioned, looking down at his son in his arms with horror. "He didn't say my name?"

"Nope, I couldn't even get him to say mine," Hermione replied with a sigh. "It was all about pa-pa."

"I always said your father was very charismatic," Draco said with a slight chuckle. "Looks like he's charmed Scorpius."

"Looks like it," Hermione agreed. "Although father was thrilled. No doubt he'll rub it in Lucius's face that he was the grandfather Scorpius spoke to first."

"I'm sure father will love that," Draco laughed. "Now about our bet. How about we continue it, and just see which of our names he'll say first."

"Same conditions?"

"Yes, the loser is at the winner's mercy for an entire weekend."

"Okay," Hermione replied with a nod as she turned to Scorpius. "Come on Scorp, help Mummy win the bet. Say mama. Mama."

"No, say dada," Draco urged his son. "Dada. Dada."

In response to his parents, Scorpius pursed his lips and blew a wet raspberry at the pair. Neither Hermione nor Draco could help but laugh at their son and his stubbornness.

"This kid is going to be such a handful," Draco remarked.

"Yeah, but he's worth it," Hermione replied with a wistful smile. "Without him, I wouldn't be here."

"Don't dwell on the past," Draco urged. He knew that whenever Hermione thought about what the Order had done to her, she ended up feeling guilty even though in his eyes she had nothing to feel guilty over.

"I'll try not to," Hermione promised.

"Good, now come on, I've got a surprise for you," Draco said, taking hold of his girlfriend's hand.

Draco's surprise was a rooftop picnic. Even though it wasn't that warm outside the roof of the manor was controlled by a weather charm and it was perfectly warm as the family of three settled down to enjoy an afternoon together. Draco had even moved Scorpius's play mat out onto the roof and Hermione sat him on the mat and watched as he instantly stuffed a dragon cuddly toy into his mouth to suck for a few moments before he curled up and drifted off to sleep, still clutching the dragon in his arms.

"I'll never get over how quick that kid falls asleep," Draco chuckled as he focused on his girlfriend. "So how did things go with your father? Do you approve of his new legislations?"

"I do," Hermione replied.

Quickly she told Draco about her father's proposition and she wasn't too surprised when Draco agreed with Voldemort. Like her father, Draco believed she could manage both a job at the Ministry as well as keeping her interest in Daphne's jewellery business. He was also confident she would have enough time for her family as he knew just how much he and Scorpius meant to Hermione.

"I'll give it some serious thought," Hermione decided.

"You do that, and in the mean time I've got something for you," Draco said. Reaching into the picnic basket, he handed Hermione a small package wrapped in green paper and tied with silver ribbon.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Open it and see," Draco replied.

Carefully pulling off the ribbon and tearing off the paper, Hermione opened a small wooden box to find a new water globe nestled in gold tissue paper. Pulling the water globe out of the box, she found the image inside was of a couple who looked just like her and Draco having a picnic. However, when she looked closer she saw the male figure was down on one knee and held a sparkling diamond ring in his hands.

"What the…" Hermione's words trailed off as she turned to face Draco only to find he was now on one knee with a beautiful diamond ring in his hand.

"Hermione, will you marry me?" he asked simply.

Hermione looked between her boyfriend and the ring he was holding and the water globe before answering in the affirmative and throwing her arms around Draco. "Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you."

Connecting their lips, Draco slid the ring onto Hermione's finger. "Thank Merlin you said yes, or else I would have looked rather stupid having had the water globe made to commemorate our engagement."

"As if I would ever say anything but yes," Hermione replied with a large smile. "I love you Draco, and I can't wait to become your wife."

Basking in their happiness, the couple spent the rest of the afternoon camped on the roof, enjoying a romantic picnic. After everything they'd had to overcome to get their happy ending, they were going to enjoy every minute of it. Dumbledore and the Order had tried to break them, but they'd failed. Not only were Draco, Hermione and Scorpius together as a family, but Voldemort reigned supreme and the dark were now in control of the wizarding world. Everything was perfect, and Hermione couldn't wait to see what the future held in the new world she was going to help her father create.

The End.

A/N – I want to thank people for reading this story. I also want to thank the majority of people for the reviews they left for this story. It did feel as though there were certain people only reading this story to complain every chapter, so I appreciate the ones who respected the fact this was my story and it was my right to write it however I wanted.

There will be no longer stories published this year, although I will be posting some one shots and collection pieces in December. However, I will be back next year with plenty more stories, so thanks for reading.